December 10, 2025 • 50 mins
Host James Lott Jr and Sherman connect from both being Native South Los Angeles to sustaining long careers in the Entertainment Industry. Currently he is in the 5th and final season of Stranger Things on Netflix. The fellas have a deep and fun discussion about the neighborhood, perceptions and hard work!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Well, I'm already connecting with them. The show is called
Extra Connections, and we're already connecting. I'm already connecting. It's
just that's that's why I do the show. And I said,
I'll tell you something, folks. He's another Los Angeles native
like myself. We're a rare, rare breed who are here,
still here and in the business. And he's in the business.
And I mean, this guy, of course, grew up in
(00:25):
some similar areas that I did play professional football, which
is I'm asking some questions about that too. That's that's
a verified air thing too. And he's an actor. I'm
an actor for a while, and it's in one of
the hottest shows that just came back from It feels
like thirty years ago because all the strike and the pandemic.
(00:45):
But he's in Stranger Things. Okay, you guys want to
show that little show. It's on Netflix, just a little
bit show show. So we're gonna talk to you. And
he has I told him as a million dollar Wattsmile
German Augustus Sherman.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hi, Well, it's crack Alain.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
How are you I find I was complaining to them
this morning that there was forty seven degrees here in
England this morning, and I'm like, where did that come from? Yeah?
Some degrees?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I don't well saying in Wells Hollywood. I just turned
I just turned my right eat off just now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I just mine too. I'm not I don't know why
I live here though. I live here because it's warm,
it's nice. Yeah, yeah, it dropped. So we're just kind
of just complaining about that. But we're talking about life
and the business and it's about this projects, and so
I want to start with you short for instance. I
want to start first all who's put this off camera?
But both from South Central and Los Angeles, like I said,
(01:40):
not far from each other. And you know, for me
and everybody does their hometowns. They carry their hometown with them,
whether you know it or not. You do wherever you
grew up, you carry that with you through your life.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Trust me, I've taken it to Canada, I've taken it
to Dublin, Ireland.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I've taken it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
To really right, no right, see, take you take it
with you. You take it with you. What is one thing
about bringing your hometown with you that actually serves you
and your work?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, first of all, you know, I want to represent properly.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I don't want to, you know, disrepresent where we come
from and make us look like, Okay, that's what they,
you know, that's what this person from Detroit, that's what
they that's the sensibility.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Now, I take a lot of how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And you know, to communicate people properly to where they
understand where I'm coming from and the things that I
want to accomplish and the things that i want to do,
and I'm always open and willing to learn and.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Just show that.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Just be a proper representative of LA South Central because
you know, we get this stigmatism, you know, like we're
going to just walk up be yeah, yeah, what's that?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
What's up now?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, No, we're not all like that, and there's nothing
wrong with it, but h and I'm not saying anything
negative or derogatory about that. It's just the simple fact
of how I like to portray myself and where I'm
coming from.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Because I'm pretty.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Sure same with you, that you're in a situation where
you're the only African American.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So oh, Sherman, there are many times Roberts the only black, this,
the only black, the only of color this, yeah, yeah,
of color that like there was no now you, nobody else. Yeah, yeah,
And we had to walk into these spaces where you
gotta be fully who you are exactly, but at the
same time watch how you.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Are exactly exactly so and that that goes. That follows
me to this day while I'm sitting here talking to you,
and it will follow me tomorrow. Also, you know, just
be a proper representation of yourself, your people, and just
what you represent, because I'm not on representing myself and
(04:01):
you and representing my mother and my father, my daughter.
You know, the guy who delivers my mail, you know that, gentleman.
So there's a representation thing. And I can say, honestly,
there's no one who can step to the table and
say he's like this, or he's like that, or he
(04:21):
did this wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
No one.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Now we were speaking earlier about agents and managers and
that kind of thing. You know, you have to get
into trenches with them because you know, again it's just
about making money and putting you in the box. But
you have to let these people know, hey, this is
where I come from, this is what I'm doing, this
is where I'm going, this is where my trajectory is.
You have to do that, you have to communicate. So
and that's why I was mentioned earlier. I've probably been
with almost every agency and management company in Los Angeles
(04:45):
because again, I just refuse to be boxed in, because
getting boxed in can cause you can you can work
that way. But then on the other that, well, we
saw him do that before, we saw her do that before.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right, So there he is right. I'm gonna ask you
Joan about that. Okay, So, because aren't you the product,
and aren't you supposed to look out for your product,
like to make sure that it's on the right shelves,
the right eye level, right, I think, with the brand
right right?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
All right, So I I you know, listen, I started
in this business in eighteen twenty one.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I was like there, Oh my god, me too, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
But it's it's one of those things where we didn't
have all these tools back then.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
No, not at all. No. I really remember newspapers, but
to backup newspapers, remember Penny savers On. I mean I
found jobs the back of remember.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Remember the Southwest, the Southwest way.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You have the wave. Yes, that's why I found some jobs.
Sometimes at gigs. Sometimes I go to the back of
the paper and you find gigs.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
You know at Northwestern Know they were like, okay, we
want to send it to your hometown newspaper, this, that
and the third and you know, ran my mods and
get it. Oh you're in the paper today, Like yeah,
you know. I was like, all right, all right. It
wasn't a Herald Examiner, which has been.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Gone time, you know, so.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
These tools weren't around.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I really enjoy sometimes when you get a letter,
someone sends a letter to the agency managers and they
send it to you. It's already been open, you know,
and you look in and you sign some stuff and
sign some pictures and send it back.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That was cool Now with social media and there's nothing
wrong with it, but people have access to a lot
of information and I don't mind about what we're doing
or promoting.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Something or whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
The case may be a film, television show or you know,
I love my photography, so I'll post some stuff about
my photography. But there's a place where it can go
a little bit over the edge sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So yeah, but you have to protect yourself. I mean
I think I think you all you got you got
to protect your your likeness, your image, who you are,
how you present. It's just it's just it's just life.
You have to kind. But in this business too, there's that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Being relevant thing, you know, you know, be relevant and
always be at this place and how many numbers you have? This,
that and the third look. To me, it's it's about
the work. And I was just having this conversation earlier.
Work begets work, but it's the right work, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Not all money is good money.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I'm not just going to take something to go
do it because I want to be happy, regardless of
what actors you're working with, the writers or the producers.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
For me, it's everyone else behind the scenes. Is makeup department,
it's uh, hair, it's it's the crew, the crew, it's
the crew, it's you know, it's the wardrobe department, is
the costume designers. Those are the folks that I make
friends with first, you know, especially costume department, because they
can give you some shoes and you'd be like, oh man,
(08:10):
come on, man, come on, they didn't have those in
your size.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
We'll get some tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Oh man. Trust me, I've seen plenty of actors get
tortured that way, and I'm like, you know, you know,
you could have got those shoes. But you know what,
they shouldn't have said what they said yesterday.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
But I just had a conversation to another actor was saying.
He kept saying, I don't know how people cannot be
nice to the crew. I go, I've seen it. I've
seen it happen.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I've seen it happen to.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I've seen it happen to how do you mean a
hair and makeup? They got to get the pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Exactly exactly, And there's always something you need. There's always
something you need. There's something that they're using that you go,
oh wow, that product is great, you know, and they
have to honor that product for you, especially if you're
working overseas, you know, and they have to order that
project and they can just like not well, you know,
they're in back corner, we'll say, and next thing, you know,
eight months later, you're wrapping and it comes in, you know,
(09:07):
And I've seen that.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I'm like, oh, we too, I've seen it.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Oh No.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
One of the things I want to bring up to you
said this, I'm the same about our neighborhood. I just
want when one of the last things I just want
to bring about that I want people to know too.
You said this off camera. My grandmother lives in View Park,
which is over for me. Okay, and every and when
I was growing up in the seventies days, every lawn
was managed here, every every house was painted everything, and
(09:32):
they had these little houses. They're all cute. They had
plant on. My girl had a garden in the backyards
with Louisiana. She had a garden in the backyard, a
turtle walking around and snapper. I just want people to
know that even though there was shootouts and gangs. Yeah,
gang was there, ingrad pie rous around the corner. I
mean they were there, but there was still pride in
your home. I told people, think the South Central was
(09:55):
just as gang infest. Everybody's poor, everybody's just like yeah,
I went to a gifted school called Tierra, Like there's
almost smart so for athletes, I mean like there's It
wasn't just this kind of like what they try to portray.
They were all lazy and just drug adult and I
mean there was a lot that went on that was
actually beautiful.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It was very beautiful. I mean that's what moded us.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And speaking of Latier, I see that's funny because I
went to Santa Barbara Elementary School and they changed its
to King and you know, we used to come over
that way all the time. That's the reason why I
went to Dorsey. I went I went to I went
to Dorsey for two years, and Coach Wine wanted to
play Harold in my position because his brother went to
the University of Houston and they were going to you know,
(10:38):
be the Harold Brothers and you know, they're playing dvs
and stuff like that. So we moved me out of position.
So I left and went to Manuel.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Arts. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I went to Manual Arts and left Manuel and went
to Northwestern.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But you're right, it's it's it's one of those things
that people have this misconception that it's just like you know,
I'm going to the store. Okay, uh uh.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Put on your armor.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Okay, honey, put on your armor, and remember there's my
traps over there. And watch the bob wire and you know,
because they're out there all right. And make sure you
glance up, keep your eyes on the swivel, and make
sure you watching the roofline and wash those windows. No, no, no, no,
(11:27):
it was it was not like that.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Sorry, sorry, and it's.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Not it's not now, you know, no, Now, it's not
at all.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, it's there's there's you know, uh professor at USC
UH bought our child at home because my mother wanted
to sell the house and she moved to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
We're all Angelino's. But my daughter went to my album mater.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So she was like, okay, comer junior senior year, I'm
gonna tell this place. Moved to Albany Park and she's
gonna move in with me to make sure she graduates.
So you know, I'm like, now she's like, hey, uh,
I'm ready to get that down payment so I could
get out of here and move to Vegas. I'm like, okay, mom,
seem seems solad bean.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
We're working on it. We're gonna get done.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
We go, we're gonna get it done. Let me get
you out retired. Yeah, thank you for doing what you did.
But everybody's over the hump. So seem seems salab beam.
I'm going, okay, we'll get this done. Out hearing almost
on the daily. Uh so yeah, you know, it's getting cold,
there's so much The other day she was like, there's
so much snow on my balcony. I'm not going out there,
(12:33):
so don't just leave it alone. Just leave it alone. Yeah,
leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
We got sir joints to feel good in some hot weather,
as she wants exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So she's ready to go, She's I'm ready to get
out of here. I'm just letting you know, I mean,
just let talk to you, lady son. Goodbye, good clack.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. But that's the point I think.
I think that's great that you It's very important. It's
very important.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And again, you know, going back to what we were
talking about before we started uh taping, you have to
you have to bring I remember firing this one manager
and he had the gall to say to me, oh
you're firing me. I I brought you out of the
gut d Yeah. So after I got back from Alpha Centuri,
(13:23):
right because you know, I none of up three fifty
seven with a blowney sandwich and uh you know, and
you know I had to get him straight. You know
my mother, you know, my mother graduated from U C.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
L A.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You know, I you know, me just all these things
and so uh sometime again going back to that, you
have to reinforce the fact that we are all not
from you know, Bay Route.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Nothing against beaute, but you know back in the day
be route.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah. Now, the next thing, there's two ways I wanted
to go with this, but I think we'll wait for
that till or later. Okay, the next thing is sports,
because I want people to know it's not as easy
as you think to get into the NFL. There are
ten hundred million thousand schools out there, high schools that
(14:15):
think all their athletes are good right across the country.
There's only so many teams across the country. And LA
didn't even have a team anymore for like twenty years.
Din't even have a team. Now we do, Now we do.
I'm gonna ask you because you played for the Vikings
and Chargers correct in Denver and oh, okay, Broncos. I
(14:36):
didn't see that, Brian Broncos. But regardless of which team,
I'm very impressed that you guide to the NFL. Right,
what people to know it's not easy. I mean, can't
just talk all about that. It's not easy. Everybody thinks
they're good, right, everybody, Yeah, they're great. There's only so
many slots you can get in.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, right, right, there's so exactly because I remember hearing
that one day from one of my coaches that there
was x amount of jobs at that time. X amount
of jobs, X amount of teams. There's x amount of
athletes that will get an opportunity to either get drafted
or free agent shots. All right, so each when I
(15:14):
got into the league, it was a free agent shot,
and I was I.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
In my junior year, I left the nation in tackles.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
But I went to Northwestern, right so, and it wasn't
that we were getting blown out or anything like that.
I like to hit people. I just love I just
I would. So it's my junior year, I had ninety
five tackles. I ended the season with ninety five tackles
(15:46):
and six interceptions, and then the senior year was ninety
tackles and five interceptions. Right, Okay, so all league each
year I could have went to se U c l A,
but I I was gonna get red shirted because at
SC it was Dennis Smith.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Ronnie Lott, my cousin yep U c l A was.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Brian Baggett, a really good friend of mine, Bobby Joseah
who played corner, and Kenny easily played free safety.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I played free safety.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So jet Us was the defensive backfield coach at U
c l A and Uh, that recruitment didn't work out,
so I went to Northwestern. So when I got traded
to the Vikings, jet U's was our defensive backfield coach,
so I.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Got a chance to play. Yeah, it worked out, it
worked out.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
He and uh uh Frank Gilliam, Oh yeah, player personnel
director Joe Gilliam's brother, you know, really fought when they
were trying to fight for me. The first year my
roommate went to the Vikings, he got traded to Seattle
and then you know that whole thing and uh, just
just a wonderful experience. But it is hard, you know.
(17:05):
And I played under a but Grant, and but Grant
was yeah, baby hard.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Nos.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Great athletes on that squad.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
For a whiles were really good for a while.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, for a while, very good, very good coaching staff,
great players. Uh you know, played with model Shot and
Tommy Kramer. A really great place to be at that time,
and especially in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
You know, it was it was cool. The music was great,
you know, you know it was it was.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It was great. Uh, but.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I knew that, like, you know what, man, you're an
actor pretending to be an athlete. Oh interesting, Yeah, so
you know I'm just I'm just looking at these things,
and you know, watching people get hurt and with injuries
that probably they're not going to be able to do
(18:07):
much later on in their life.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Are you know?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I've seen it? We don't, We don't. I've seen face
masks hit.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Buddy of Minds got hit so hard on the crack
back that that they had to cut the face mask off,
excuse me, And it looked like he got shot in
his face. He's got this scar there, broke his cheekbone
and did a whole bunch of damage to his arbitue
circuit sucket And yeah, I remember Nate Balzer got his
(18:37):
foot twisted all the way around. I had a concussion
on the sideline and I'm watching this and I think
it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. But it wasn't
because his foot got turned all the way around and
they had the jam his foot into a bucket and
then air lift him out. And I'm on the sideline.
This is a Northwestern I'm like, yeah, I think it's
(18:57):
the funniest thing. But my mind was gone. And again,
having concussions and not having a protocol back in those
days and going home and being light sensitive and can't
eat that whole thing, and you know, the vertigo and
all that kind of stuff, and not going to the
doctor because we were taught ben but don't break.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Of course, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Ben, but don't break. So after my knee surgery, I
called the agent up. I'm like, hey, man, I'm out.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
What do you mean? You out?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like I'm out?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I'm an actor called my acting agent.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Hey, so when I give my leg out the castase,
don't worry.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I just started out in commercials and did a
ton of those and did extra work on a few
things because I wanted to learn the business.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
And my first film was Colors.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Hey stop there, wrote I said, home, yeah, man, not
Mayor Walker Brothers. Like I love the great great film
first of all, and people we know the song, of
course I see that. That's why that's quote. I love
the song. But the film is actually really good. I
saw it like about a year ago. I hadn't seen
it a long time, and I was like, oh, this
(20:15):
is pretty good. I forgot I saw it. I was like,
this is pretty good. Actually it's I mean, it gets
overshadow a little because of the song. It's a big right, right, right.
So it was about that time period. It was like
it was about the tensions and that just right right.
Very interesting fact about that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The night before I auditioned, I watched Blue Velvet.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Oh, David Lynch.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And David Lynch, but Dennis Hopper killed it.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I didn't know Dennis was directing. So I get over
to the studio. I'm sitting there and I look up
and he's walking through the door and he knobs, how
you doing it? Oh shit, I'm sorry, it's the well
dressed man right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
He labbed.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
But I was like, because his performance had just just
put this. It was just esched in my mind his performance,
you know. And so I go in and I read
and we have a little conversation. Then the next thing
I know, I'm at his house doing the big read
through with everyone. And it was my first film, Don
Cheto's first film, Glenn Plumber's first film. It was a
(21:23):
lot of first films for these guys. And I got
to say, everybody brought it. Everybody brought it in that film,
and everybody there, you know, has a career from that film.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Don Chico Folks was a dancer for Jodsy for a while,
I remember that in the videos that you don't understand either.
Dennis Hopper was also another kind of West Side l
A guy. I mean, he's a very much an l
A guy too. So yeah, we did it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
We did a read through at at his Venice property,
you know. So it's just, man, what a great film.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's great film. I saw the year ago and I
got to see it, so I didn't write, you were
in it's not gonna look at it. See, yeah, we're
in there. Yeah, but coach was good. Well, we asked
about you and I have somebody in common. Also, I
saw this another interview mentioned him and he went to
high school with me and then I basically a couple
of years younger than me, and I actually saw him
before he passed. That's John Singleton. Yes, so tell us
(22:22):
what your connection to John Singleton is. John.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Okay, it was always a running kind of thing. We
would always run into each other. But you know, I'm
the kind of guy I don't bird dog anybody about anything,
you know what I do. You know, I'm an actor,
but I'm not gonna bird dog.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But it was always cool to bump into him and
then talk about film.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You know, just film itself, how to shoot it, how
you know, how to ladies things out, how to get
the sun right if you're working with natural stuff, and
to do genius genius just just genius and just picking
up those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Now it's different because you know everyone's working on with
with within the digital age, which is fine.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I love it because I like to work fast.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I will.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I've told the director straight out, three takes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Okay, you're one take, Johnny.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Are those kind of like, oh yeah, I'm one of
those guys, you know, because no take is the same.
There is nothing more satisfying than to be going home
or going back to wherever you're staying. If you're on
location and go, man, you know you're really crazy. You
know you're really because you want to surprise yourself. And
you learn that by watching other great actors and watching
(23:34):
these things. And then I tell young actors all the time,
it's about behavior, behavior, behavior, behavior, It's all about that.
So you know, these conversations with John it would be
about you know, framing stuff up, this, that and the third,
and we will kind of get around to just behavior
as far as actors are concerned and where they're coming from.
Where they're going and how you build that character, you know,
(23:58):
and he definitely. I just saw an old interview with
AJ and she was talking about the scene where her
and Tyreese walk out and he's in the kitchen cooking
and he's you know, but that was John's idea, you know,
and then you know, then it was like, yeah, that's cool,
and that's what I do.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I always involved myself by knocking on.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That director's door or when I get to set, you know,
trying to get on set earlier and say this is
what I'm thinking. X y s scooby doope doop. Yeah,
you're right, okay, cool, because it'll make it go quicker.
And if I'm not hitting that behavioral beat, you can
remind me. I remember once on the Mexican I got
(24:41):
to work and Julia and I were getting on the
elevator at the same time. I always give everybody's space,
no matter if we cool, chummy, chummy, whatever, I'm going
to give you that space. And I kind of saw
on her face that she came to work ready. She
goes hey and go hey, and I'm like, okay, I
can feel this. So you know, she had her two
bodyguards and I kind of like melted in the back,
you know, into the elevator. And so when the door's open,
(25:05):
Gore was standing there. Gorfavinski was standing there and he said,
I got an idea. Remember when you said x y
Z scoob be doobe dooby doo. And she goes, yeah,
now she's fighting back those tears right then there, because
I gotta you know, we were all throwing her around.
Gambe Foenie threw around a pitt throw around. We were
all throwing and she was like, I got these bruises.
I'm cool. The more you give me, the less I
(25:26):
have to work.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
How old. That's a smart thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you know, when I have to slammer against that wall,
I'm slamming and I'm thinking to myself, oh Jesus, I
hope I didn't break the twenty million dollar woman.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
But she's in. She's in the next man. So uh,
there's actors out there that are like that.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So I just remembered when we were getting off that
elevator that Gore said that to her, and I'm like, Okay,
that's the key, man, that's the key, that's the key
to help you, you know, get that particular character. Off
the page. Yes, you know you have to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
But see, the director is so happy for you, the
producers are so happy because you're prepared. Yes, oh yeah,
you're showing that you care. Number two and whatever short
because things that could work, will save the money, save
the time, help the budgets. It's like so it's like
it's a it's a very pronged approach.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yes, yes, and you form these relationships. You form these
friendships that will last. We run into these people on
the streets, you know they're going to want to have
a conversation with you and and and find out what
how you doing, how your family's doing, and all that
because you have such a wonderful experience when you were
shooting that particular project.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And that's just been my mo from day one.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
There was nothing more satisfying than the short set and
crew members go, oh, we getting out of here, charms
here today, that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
And I'm like, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I don't care if there's a fight scene that we
you know, we're doing in bad lands and it took
eight days to shoot our ma Z for for a
Stranger Things. It doesn't matter what we're doing it's I'm
coming to work prepaired, and especially when you have these
three am pickup times and you know that kind of stuff,
like Okay, I'm gonna just go to work and do
what I need to do, get it done so we
(27:17):
can move on. We all have lives to do and
still not miss a beats, still be there, still bring
that character off the page, and you know, help other
actors and be helped. Yeah, and that's what it's all about.
It's just it's a job, man, it's a job.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And I tell you because I've done I've done a
few acting things. But yes are the stars Bye bye.
But you're right, people really do remember how you make
them feel and how you work. So I remember I
went on too a set and the whole cast was like,
oh we saw your name on the call sheet. Were
so excited. There's nothing better to hear that, right, So
you hear that, you're like, oh, James is coming, Oh
my god, we're gonna gets to be so funny, it'll
(27:58):
be so good, and that may be I'm in going,
Oh I gotta be really ready, And and we did.
We had a good time, and there was a show
cost to your city. You had good time. But I
like that whole thing that you said about. It's how
you make people feel. Yeah, do you show up on.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Time, You show up on time, show up on time.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know your lines, it's all. That's what counts, right,
And you can get hired over and over. Why do
some people work all the time? You know?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And I make sure that when I step on set,
I speak to everybody, everybody, no matter you know how
I how I'm feeling, or where I need to go emotionally,
I'm speaking to everybody. Yes, And then it's just over
over there, okay, so what are we doing? Okay, fine,
I'm not standing right here. Okay, cool. You know that
whole thing. And then we get into it. And again,
(28:49):
like I said, I will knock on every director's door
and and have these conversations with them. I have very
very very very very interesting conversation with Frank Dearbond. I'm
such a fan of his work, and I went to
I had a wardrobe call that day. Well it was
just a warde fitting, and so our first aid, her
(29:12):
name escapes me, but she was basically uh first aid
in his blocks specifically, and she goes, oh, Sherman, hey,
how you doing so we met. Sorry, I don't remember
your name, and she goes, Frank would love to meet you. Like, Frank,
I knew guest director. I'm like, okay, cool, all right, Frank.
(29:32):
So I'm walking and walking down the hallway and walk
past Seohn's Sean Leby's office and I look in you know,
Sean's out there here shooting something. And I walked to
Frank's doing it, said Frank carebah, And I'm like, oh man,
I just started melting in me and Frank just hit
it off right off, right off the top. And you
know we had that that section to where we had
two strikes, right, a strike and the actor strike.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Oh yeah, I was. I was there for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
So I had this opportunity now to I was using
that to rewire exactly where.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Jack Sullivan was coming from.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, is he's not that Jack Sullivan we saw
a couple of months ago.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Uh, in the time of the show.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You know, there's something different now, I see what's going
on this that and the third and so we chit
chatted about a lot of stuff, and I brought up
a lot of ideas and because I spoke to a
lot of military ex military and active military colonels. I
always do my research, and knowing that they were bringing
in Linda Hamilton, I knew we were going to you know,
(30:31):
but I'm like, you know what my concern isn't even
with her. She can come in, she can do what
she wants to do. My concern is finding out what's
happening in Hawkins. Bad guys, beware if you're the bad
guys loving if okay, I will, you know, let's find
out if you're good at bad. But now I have
this responsibility of this whole town, and you know, I
have these men in this company and all these these
(30:53):
these expensive things that the government has you know, given me.
And so I spoke to one retired lieutenant colonel who said, yeah,
anytime I have a beef for someone or we have
this thing where it's this who's got the authority, there's
a salute that you can give them. And you know,
it's kind of like an fu salute where you know,
(31:14):
you do your salute and you pivot, you turn, and
you slap your hass.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That means, you know, just my ass.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So Frank was like, you know, Frank's the military dude.
He's like, oh my god. Yeah, yeah, But I did it.
I did it a different way. It's in the hallway
with me, Manny and and and Linda, and we're doing
this whole thing, and I just I gave it a
sloop and but just I gave her half of it.
But there's something coming up in the next half that
I went to set and I was speaking with Frank
(31:42):
and he totally blew me out the water. He said,
you're right about all those things. But he but he's
also having a come to.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Jesus moment and I'm like, okay, like that.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So that's what I mean about the collaboration, because that's
what it is. It's collaboration, and so I take that
into each and everything I do.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, you know, but you guys are I mean this,
I mean this cast. You watch the kids grow up
with the grown Yeah, yeah, you guys are. Guys are
like a like a family of some sorts. You guys
have you guys are part So you again, rarefy, they
are again. You're of a show that's a cultural hit.
It's a it's a hit. It's on streaming folks, which
(32:23):
is like down network. But yeah, it seems so huge. Yeah,
we've been all waiting for season five and finally we've
been waiting for. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Man, they haven't even started. I mean, they're gonna throttle up.
It's just it's it hasn't even started good yet. One
thing I noticed, I really liked watching uh Wanona and
uh Finn and Noah take the little kids and take
them under their wing. And you know, it's kind of
cool to see that generation taking this new generation under
(32:55):
their wing and just giving them the knowledge and the
information about just being in this business and knowing that
their characters and knowing what's going on with this show.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And they were all so well, just really well groomed actors,
and it was fun to watch. It was really fun
to watch, and those kids have no egos, and it
was just really cool feeding off their energy because they
had that energy because we're going to shoot them out first.
Because we're shooting at night, they had to be gone
by eleven o'clock, by eleven pm, so you know, their
(33:30):
energy was great, so it helped us with our energy
for the rest of the night, the rest of.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
The morning, I know, basically morning whatever it is. Oh yeah,
oh yeah, oh yeah. I want to ask you this
question because it's I have to ask this question. Yeah,
is Lieutenant Colonel Jack in relation to you? Is he
a brother friend alter ego? What he was?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Definitely he's he's definitely an ulter ego. You know, there's
there's oments because it was That's the reason why I
was saying. For me, there's always got to be a
connection to where I can find a balance between behavior
(34:15):
that's not real and behavior that's real. So the first
thing I do all the time is I let that
character evaluate me. So I will walk around and I
will let him ask me whatever you've been through in
your life? To get me off the page, man, and
then we start arguing, we start going at it, and
then he'll say, Okay, on that line of X y Z,
since you know how that feels, that's what you need
(34:38):
to use. Okay, you never you know, pull it out
a gun to shot meybody, but you know how it
feels to want to So why are you tripping? You
know you know how it feels to drive the car
like this, So why are you tripping? That's what I
need when you say that line, and then it becomes
easier and easier, and then before you know it, it's
just the behavior. Because everything we accumulate as actors, every
(34:59):
technique that we want there gets to a point. For
me personally, it goes out the window. It becomes instinct.
As long as I had that let that character meet
with me and chit chat with me. Yeah, it's it's, it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I'll tell you a quick story with quitting where we're
shooting lanterns and and for some reason, every time I
went to set, I was wondering why I was feeling
a certain kind of way, and it's making me make
me cry right now thinking about it. I was feeling
the kind of way because they built a nineteen twenty
(35:37):
nineteen nineteen craftsmen style home that looks just like mine
that I grew up in. So you know where I'm
going with this. So production is set design.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They must smuck in my house.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
The wallpaper in the hallway, the bedrooms, the hardwood floor,
everything in side and outside was just detailed as a
beautiful craftsman home. So we're shooting the scene, the last scene,
and I'm in the kitchen. I'm asking myself before we
start rolling, and I'm asking myself, why do you feel
(36:16):
this way, don't block it. And I looked down and
I'm looking at the tile and everything. And I walked
into the breakfast room and I'm like, it's just like
my house. And the scene is I'm not gonna give
away the scene, but Aaron's coming in and we had
this thing and Alec said action and I didn't let
it go. The most powerful thing is to just keep
(36:37):
the tears in your eyes. And he wanted this to
add lit this whole thing at the end, and so
it was just so easy to do. And I remember
I walked in. We had rehearsed it, we had a
shot of take, which was great, and we're on the
second take and I'm like, okay, I need this, let's
(36:57):
get this done. And I but that's in my eyes
and I'm feeling this whole thing and it was the house. Man.
I didn't have to reach for nothing. I didn't have
to go back and start thinking about anything. It was
the environment. And so those are the moments where you
feel as a performer, as an actor, you have arrived
where you don't have to go reach for something, where
everybody has to be quiet. Actors try to good the
(37:20):
actors over here. You know, no, No, the actor saw
something that made that actor do that, and it took
me back to when Julia walked on. We walked into
the hotel, we got on the elevator, and then I
understood where she was coming from. I understood. I don't
know how many years ago that was, but you know,
(37:42):
these things accumulate and you get to a point where
when you want to have accessibility to these feelings and
these emotions, it's right there. It's not buried underneath the surface.
It's just skin, very skin.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Deep of that. One of the things that you you've
done different projects from my soap opera fans, Yeah, I
gotta know. He did a stint at Detective Where Were
Young a couple of years ago on Young and the Restless. Yes,
one of the things I want to ask you because
Young Restless is such a beloved shop from the black community.
(38:20):
Our Auntieasing everybody knows that. Dy knows. Richard Newman, that's yeah, yeah,
my buddy, my buddy braid.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah yeah, Eric Braiden and and and I just ran
into Peterburg at Bergman.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Oh yeah, over at the Grove the other day, you know,
like Peter's like god, yeah, because I noticed I follow
you my friend Michelle Stafford to plays well Michelle.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But see that's how it happened. We were in class together.
Michelle goes, hey, Shark. She had a party and she
goes shar so they're casting this character. I'm like, Hi,
look Michelle, I'll give you my reel and you can
give it to the folks. She said, okay, cool. So
got the call. So I ended up doing the show
and I did the show for four years consistent, but
(38:59):
I was able to do other things. I was offered
a contract, but I just wanted to make sure. I
just wanted to keep going. You know, I love independent films.
I love uh and that's where I made my bones
at you know, you know independent films because I just
love the spirit of it it creatively, it's it's a
(39:21):
place where you can live and uh just come up
with these great ideas. You have people who are on
the rise, uh, and it just everybody's out to just
do it, especially if the budgets tight. I just love that, uh.
And I was, man, I love that show. It it
was And trust me, soap operas are hard.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I know to tell people, it's not easy, right.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Soap operas are hard, especially if you're a trained actor.
And again you're searching for the right behavior. And it's
no joke. I've seen actors have meltdowns on set, you know,
coming from film. In regular television, you know, an insert
is Sherman opens the door, walks in, you.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Know, no dialogue.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
And I remember.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I got an email saying, excuse me, we're gonna shoot
some inserts for show X y Z tomorrow. Okay, cool.
I go to work. I already had ten pages. I
get to work and they handed me twenty pages.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Of course, that's right.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, who did not facts
this or email this to me? Who's responsible? Oh? I
see what you're trying to do. You want to see
Sherman that meltdown? Oh no, no, this is what Sherm
gets real cool. This is what terms sharm dog.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
So what do you do?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Because I've seen this happen before. I'm there at six
in the morning, I go to everybody and I say, hey, listen,
I don't know who's involved and who was supposed to
do this, but I was supposed to get this twenty
these twenty pages earlier. But it's okay, right, And he
just thought I was gonna come in here. Aye. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
I tell you what, if you will allow me to
do this right after lunch, I'll be ready.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
And guess what I went and did that, did lunch
and knocked it out the box and did it like
I was doing a film, not a soap opera.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
And I'm going to tell you where I learned that from.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
So I'm working with the great Cecily Tyson.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Oh okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
So I'm shooting Touched by the Angel. I get off
the plane and I see Cisly walking through and I'm like,
oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no one
told me this. No one told me. They didn't tell
me Sisly was playing my mother. What. So now I'm like,
I'm not sleeping. I'm like, you know, I'm sweaty, all
under the arms, you know, I'm just like, you know, wow, Okay.
(41:50):
It was myself and Janelle Kennedy and we shot a
couple of stuff and we're working with Tim Van Patten.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Oh yeah, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
We shot the scene and so we're moving so fast
and Tim goes, you know, we'll shoot the stuff that
we're going to do tomorrow. We'll shoot it today, and she
did not. They were rewriting her stuff and so she
didn't have it. So she goes, okay, well I don't
have those pages. So now me and Janelle were like,
you know, you don't mess with you don't mess with
our lady, like you don't mess with our quing like that.
(42:22):
So she goes, no, no, no, no, no no, I
got this. Give me a couple of minutes, give me,
give me an hour, and I'll have it done, all right.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
So we went on there and shot some other stuff.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
She came back twenty five minutes later and we were
going to break for lunch. She came back twenty five
minutes later with the most beautiful cursive handwriting I've ever
seen in my life. She wrote down three pages. She
wrote it down, memorized it, came in, knocked it out
the box. Janelle Kennedy and I looked at each other
(42:56):
and we really questioned ourselves, and Janelle said, and we
want to be actors, how do you do that?
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Seriously?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
We were like dumbfound it, you know, we were like,
how do you do this? How do you do this? So,
going back to young and restless, I remember that lesson.
I just give me some time. I'm a professional actor.
I'm not gonna waste anybody's time. You won't have to
worry about the que cars and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
I got you. They came back and did it.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
So I was like, yeah, now look at everybody say,
seem seems solid bean baby, that's what you know.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
The thing is, you know, I think when what you do.
I've done a lot of live television where you have
to on the fly. I mean what we do. We again,
we are the product. We are the conduit between the
fans and the people who work behind the scenes. Right,
So we have a job to do. You have a job,
(43:51):
job do. I think what makes me why I'm now
you're a new fan is that you have a similar
thought like I do. It's like, I have a job
to do. I can do it. Yeah, here's some of
the parameters. But I'll get it together because I have
a job to do. This is what job? Yeah yeah,
but I said, but everybody has that mindset. You have
(44:14):
the mic downs that go crazy and how you dare
you do this to me? And why is this happening
to me? Like the whole night? But you're like me,
where we going? No, no, no, this isn't happening to me.
This is happening, and so now what am I going
to do about it? Right?
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Right?
Speaker 1 (44:28):
It's not a person, you know.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
It goes back even to football.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
You know, you study, you study what your opponent's going
to do, and they might line up that way, but
they may not run that play.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
So you have to be quick on the flo.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
If I'm secondary filmman or primary filmman, if it's running
the tackle we're studying up front, I got to do that.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
If I read run, whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
The case may be, it's the same thing, right, And
this is the reason why I tell young actors if
you can't well stay in a class, and don't stay
in one class for more than two years, go somewhere else,
because again reiterating, you're going to start using that technique
that is just personal to you and you're going to
be pulling that up. There's not much theater here, but
(45:14):
I advise them to get in an improv group.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
I did improv theater for five years, So that's where
all that comes from. It comes from you, you know,
so you can let this these things fly from your
cerebral cortex. There is no stopping anything. It's always yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
You know your uncle's are flying dunkey, Yes he is,
and he works for American Airlines, you know, and you
keep it going, you keep there's no no. So it's
the same thing you know when you're when you're across
from Oliver Platte and you know that he's going.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
To go off book of course, of course, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
It's just he almost got me one time, and we
were shooting we were shooting this uh, shooting this David S.
Gloria film Zigzag, based off of a real story out
of this young kid who had artism down in San Diego.
And we're shooting that film and I come in and
I questioned him about there's a theft and his restaurant,
(46:19):
and I catch him him and Natasha and the leone
having this conversation, and so I walk in and conduct
some more interviews, and so the line is, so who
was that? His line back to me was, h, he's
my sister's cousin's little brother's niece.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
Yes, Detective, I'm married and I'm her right, alrighty, you
know any other questions Sherlock's homie.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Oh that's that's good. Right. So you're standing there going, okay,
got it?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
So I guess David played us both because David had
him do that, and David told me slam him against
the wall. So now I don't hit, you know, because
I'm almost I'm almost gonna break because I love that man.
That man as funny as all get out, and he's
fast and he's quick.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
I grabbed him by the collar and threw him against
the wall and I said listen to me. I said,
listen to me, mister right, And so I have to
say my stuff and mister m effort wasn't in there,
but you know, okay, it just it just it just
came out right. And then when he y'all cut, we
all just fell out. I think we laughed for like
(47:35):
forty five minutes. It was just so freaking funny because
Oliver was like that. And the same with with with
Nick Frost. You can't you can't play around with Nick Frost.
Nick Frost will burn you. Nick Frost will burn you.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
And you gotta be in.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
You got to be in the moment because he would
do something and you don't want to break It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
I love actors like that.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
I could talk to you forever, man, I got an
interview to do after this, I'm like, no, I don't
want to I want to talk to you for like
two three hours. Man. We have to do it again, definitely,
we have to do it again any any anytime. Welcome back.
Thank you. It was a pleasure connecting with you on
Extra Connections, folks. He's in a New Stranger Things so
(48:21):
and it's two parts, folks. So there's a part now,
three episodes and the three coming out at Christmas. So
I'll put it in the description of fluks and just
some guys are like, I can't remember. I know, it's confusing.
It's yeah, yeah, yeah, it's what it is. You know.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
It's thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I
really do.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
It was painless, man, it was painless. Okay, So Sherman
tell them what. They can follow you on social media
if they want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Follow me on Instagram at shurm gus and also Facebook
and I'm on thread.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
You know, you can do following.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
I'm around around Hi. He's for hire too. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
York stage, folks, He'll fly New York on what you
want to say? You hook about there, right, I'm proud
to New York. He's an actor. He's an actor.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
Yes, that's what I am.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yes, Yes, and I'm James Adrian. Follow me where all
James are and James Jr. I'm everywhere also TikTok everything.
I'm all over the place. But it's super simple for
you guys. Extra connections on Facebook, but you follow us
there to you and just again, as I always end
these kind of shows, I always I'm very happy because
the world's about connection. We we've lost a bit of
(49:30):
that during the pandemic and other things. I'm trying to
bring that back. The show is nine years old, and
I'm so glad, thank you. I'm so proud to still
be doing this and I'm proud to be here too,
and I'm probably be.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
Yeah, and you know for me, folks like you, it
just makes everything just so worthwhile. Man, So thank you
so much, because I love sitting down and having a conversation.
This wasn't an interview, it was a conversation than thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Yeah. Yeah, the folks support it. Go watch Stranger Things,
see all right,
Well, I'm already connecting with them. The show is called
Extra Connections, and we're already connecting. I'm already connecting. It's
just that's that's why I do the show. And I said,
I'll tell you something, folks. He's another Los Angeles native
like myself. We're a rare, rare breed who are here,
still here and in the business. And he's in the business.
And I mean, this guy, of course, grew up in
(00:25):
some similar areas that I did play professional football, which
is I'm asking some questions about that too. That's that's
a verified air thing too. And he's an actor. I'm
an actor for a while, and it's in one of
the hottest shows that just came back from It feels
like thirty years ago because all the strike and the pandemic.
(00:45):
But he's in Stranger Things. Okay, you guys want to
show that little show. It's on Netflix, just a little
bit show show. So we're gonna talk to you. And
he has I told him as a million dollar Wattsmile
German Augustus Sherman.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hi, Well, it's crack Alain.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
How are you I find I was complaining to them
this morning that there was forty seven degrees here in
England this morning, and I'm like, where did that come from? Yeah?
Some degrees?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I don't well saying in Wells Hollywood. I just turned
I just turned my right eat off just now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I just mine too. I'm not I don't know why
I live here though. I live here because it's warm,
it's nice. Yeah, yeah, it dropped. So we're just kind
of just complaining about that. But we're talking about life
and the business and it's about this projects, and so
I want to start with you short for instance. I
want to start first all who's put this off camera?
But both from South Central and Los Angeles, like I said,
(01:40):
not far from each other. And you know, for me
and everybody does their hometowns. They carry their hometown with them,
whether you know it or not. You do wherever you
grew up, you carry that with you through your life.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Trust me, I've taken it to Canada, I've taken it
to Dublin, Ireland.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I've taken it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
To really right, no right, see, take you take it
with you. You take it with you. What is one thing
about bringing your hometown with you that actually serves you
and your work?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, first of all, you know, I want to represent properly.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I don't want to, you know, disrepresent where we come
from and make us look like, Okay, that's what they,
you know, that's what this person from Detroit, that's what
they that's the sensibility.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Now, I take a lot of how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And you know, to communicate people properly to where they
understand where I'm coming from and the things that I
want to accomplish and the things that i want to do,
and I'm always open and willing to learn and.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Just show that.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Just be a proper representative of LA South Central because
you know, we get this stigmatism, you know, like we're
going to just walk up be yeah, yeah, what's that?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
What's up now?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, No, we're not all like that, and there's nothing
wrong with it, but h and I'm not saying anything
negative or derogatory about that. It's just the simple fact
of how I like to portray myself and where I'm
coming from.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Because I'm pretty.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Sure same with you, that you're in a situation where
you're the only African American.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So oh, Sherman, there are many times Roberts the only black, this,
the only black, the only of color this, yeah, yeah,
of color that like there was no now you, nobody else. Yeah, yeah,
And we had to walk into these spaces where you
gotta be fully who you are exactly, but at the
same time watch how you.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Are exactly exactly so and that that goes. That follows
me to this day while I'm sitting here talking to you,
and it will follow me tomorrow. Also, you know, just
be a proper representation of yourself, your people, and just
what you represent, because I'm not on representing myself and
(04:01):
you and representing my mother and my father, my daughter.
You know, the guy who delivers my mail, you know that, gentleman.
So there's a representation thing. And I can say, honestly,
there's no one who can step to the table and
say he's like this, or he's like that, or he
(04:21):
did this wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
No one.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Now we were speaking earlier about agents and managers and
that kind of thing. You know, you have to get
into trenches with them because you know, again it's just
about making money and putting you in the box. But
you have to let these people know, hey, this is
where I come from, this is what I'm doing, this
is where I'm going, this is where my trajectory is.
You have to do that, you have to communicate. So
and that's why I was mentioned earlier. I've probably been
with almost every agency and management company in Los Angeles
(04:45):
because again, I just refuse to be boxed in, because
getting boxed in can cause you can you can work
that way. But then on the other that, well, we
saw him do that before, we saw her do that before.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right, So there he is right. I'm gonna ask you
Joan about that. Okay, So, because aren't you the product,
and aren't you supposed to look out for your product,
like to make sure that it's on the right shelves,
the right eye level, right, I think, with the brand
right right?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
All right, So I I you know, listen, I started
in this business in eighteen twenty one.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I was like there, Oh my god, me too, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
But it's it's one of those things where we didn't
have all these tools back then.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
No, not at all. No. I really remember newspapers, but
to backup newspapers, remember Penny savers On. I mean I
found jobs the back of remember.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Remember the Southwest, the Southwest way.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You have the wave. Yes, that's why I found some jobs.
Sometimes at gigs. Sometimes I go to the back of
the paper and you find gigs.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
You know at Northwestern Know they were like, okay, we
want to send it to your hometown newspaper, this, that
and the third and you know, ran my mods and
get it. Oh you're in the paper today, Like yeah,
you know. I was like, all right, all right. It
wasn't a Herald Examiner, which has been.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Gone time, you know, so.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
These tools weren't around.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I really enjoy sometimes when you get a letter,
someone sends a letter to the agency managers and they
send it to you. It's already been open, you know,
and you look in and you sign some stuff and
sign some pictures and send it back.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That was cool Now with social media and there's nothing
wrong with it, but people have access to a lot
of information and I don't mind about what we're doing
or promoting.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Something or whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
The case may be a film, television show or you know,
I love my photography, so I'll post some stuff about
my photography. But there's a place where it can go
a little bit over the edge sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So yeah, but you have to protect yourself. I mean
I think I think you all you got you got
to protect your your likeness, your image, who you are,
how you present. It's just it's just it's just life.
You have to kind. But in this business too, there's that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Being relevant thing, you know, you know, be relevant and
always be at this place and how many numbers you have? This,
that and the third look. To me, it's it's about
the work. And I was just having this conversation earlier.
Work begets work, but it's the right work, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Not all money is good money.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I'm not just going to take something to go
do it because I want to be happy, regardless of
what actors you're working with, the writers or the producers.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
For me, it's everyone else behind the scenes. Is makeup department,
it's uh, hair, it's it's the crew, the crew, it's
the crew, it's you know, it's the wardrobe department, is
the costume designers. Those are the folks that I make
friends with first, you know, especially costume department, because they
can give you some shoes and you'd be like, oh man,
(08:10):
come on, man, come on, they didn't have those in
your size.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
We'll get some tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Oh man. Trust me, I've seen plenty of actors get
tortured that way, and I'm like, you know, you know,
you could have got those shoes. But you know what,
they shouldn't have said what they said yesterday.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
But I just had a conversation to another actor was saying.
He kept saying, I don't know how people cannot be
nice to the crew. I go, I've seen it. I've
seen it happen.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I've seen it happen to.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I've seen it happen to how do you mean a
hair and makeup? They got to get the pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Exactly exactly, And there's always something you need. There's always
something you need. There's something that they're using that you go,
oh wow, that product is great, you know, and they
have to honor that product for you, especially if you're
working overseas, you know, and they have to order that
project and they can just like not well, you know,
they're in back corner, we'll say, and next thing, you know,
eight months later, you're wrapping and it comes in, you know,
(09:07):
And I've seen that.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I'm like, oh, we too, I've seen it.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Oh No.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
One of the things I want to bring up to you
said this, I'm the same about our neighborhood. I just
want when one of the last things I just want
to bring about that I want people to know too.
You said this off camera. My grandmother lives in View Park,
which is over for me. Okay, and every and when
I was growing up in the seventies days, every lawn
was managed here, every every house was painted everything, and
(09:32):
they had these little houses. They're all cute. They had
plant on. My girl had a garden in the backyards
with Louisiana. She had a garden in the backyard, a
turtle walking around and snapper. I just want people to
know that even though there was shootouts and gangs. Yeah,
gang was there, ingrad pie rous around the corner. I
mean they were there, but there was still pride in
your home. I told people, think the South Central was
(09:55):
just as gang infest. Everybody's poor, everybody's just like yeah,
I went to a gifted school called Tierra, Like there's
almost smart so for athletes, I mean like there's It
wasn't just this kind of like what they try to portray.
They were all lazy and just drug adult and I
mean there was a lot that went on that was
actually beautiful.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It was very beautiful. I mean that's what moded us.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And speaking of Latier, I see that's funny because I
went to Santa Barbara Elementary School and they changed its
to King and you know, we used to come over
that way all the time. That's the reason why I
went to Dorsey. I went I went to I went
to Dorsey for two years, and Coach Wine wanted to
play Harold in my position because his brother went to
the University of Houston and they were going to you know,
(10:38):
be the Harold Brothers and you know, they're playing dvs
and stuff like that. So we moved me out of position.
So I left and went to Manuel.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Arts. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I went to Manual Arts and left Manuel and went
to Northwestern.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But you're right, it's it's it's one of those things
that people have this misconception that it's just like you know,
I'm going to the store. Okay, uh uh.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Put on your armor.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Okay, honey, put on your armor, and remember there's my
traps over there. And watch the bob wire and you know,
because they're out there all right. And make sure you
glance up, keep your eyes on the swivel, and make
sure you watching the roofline and wash those windows. No, no, no, no,
(11:27):
it was it was not like that.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Sorry, sorry, and it's.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Not it's not now, you know, no, Now, it's not
at all.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, it's there's there's you know, uh professor at USC
UH bought our child at home because my mother wanted
to sell the house and she moved to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
We're all Angelino's. But my daughter went to my album mater.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So she was like, okay, comer junior senior year, I'm
gonna tell this place. Moved to Albany Park and she's
gonna move in with me to make sure she graduates.
So you know, I'm like, now she's like, hey, uh,
I'm ready to get that down payment so I could
get out of here and move to Vegas. I'm like, okay, mom,
seem seems solad bean.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
We're working on it. We're gonna get done.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
We go, we're gonna get it done. Let me get
you out retired. Yeah, thank you for doing what you did.
But everybody's over the hump. So seem seems salab beam.
I'm going, okay, we'll get this done. Out hearing almost
on the daily. Uh so yeah, you know, it's getting cold,
there's so much The other day she was like, there's
so much snow on my balcony. I'm not going out there,
(12:33):
so don't just leave it alone. Just leave it alone. Yeah,
leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
We got sir joints to feel good in some hot weather,
as she wants exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So she's ready to go, She's I'm ready to get
out of here. I'm just letting you know, I mean,
just let talk to you, lady son. Goodbye, good clack.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. But that's the point I think.
I think that's great that you It's very important. It's
very important.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And again, you know, going back to what we were
talking about before we started uh taping, you have to
you have to bring I remember firing this one manager
and he had the gall to say to me, oh
you're firing me. I I brought you out of the
gut d Yeah. So after I got back from Alpha Centuri,
(13:23):
right because you know, I none of up three fifty
seven with a blowney sandwich and uh you know, and
you know I had to get him straight. You know
my mother, you know, my mother graduated from U C.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
L A.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You know, I you know, me just all these things
and so uh sometime again going back to that, you
have to reinforce the fact that we are all not
from you know, Bay Route.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Nothing against beaute, but you know back in the day
be route.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah. Now, the next thing, there's two ways I wanted
to go with this, but I think we'll wait for
that till or later. Okay, the next thing is sports,
because I want people to know it's not as easy
as you think to get into the NFL. There are
ten hundred million thousand schools out there, high schools that
(14:15):
think all their athletes are good right across the country.
There's only so many teams across the country. And LA
didn't even have a team anymore for like twenty years.
Din't even have a team. Now we do, Now we do.
I'm gonna ask you because you played for the Vikings
and Chargers correct in Denver and oh, okay, Broncos. I
(14:36):
didn't see that, Brian Broncos. But regardless of which team,
I'm very impressed that you guide to the NFL. Right,
what people to know it's not easy. I mean, can't
just talk all about that. It's not easy. Everybody thinks
they're good, right, everybody, Yeah, they're great. There's only so
many slots you can get in.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, right, right, there's so exactly because I remember hearing
that one day from one of my coaches that there
was x amount of jobs at that time. X amount
of jobs, X amount of teams. There's x amount of
athletes that will get an opportunity to either get drafted
or free agent shots. All right, so each when I
(15:14):
got into the league, it was a free agent shot,
and I was I.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
In my junior year, I left the nation in tackles.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
But I went to Northwestern, right so, and it wasn't
that we were getting blown out or anything like that.
I like to hit people. I just love I just
I would. So it's my junior year, I had ninety
five tackles. I ended the season with ninety five tackles
(15:46):
and six interceptions, and then the senior year was ninety
tackles and five interceptions. Right, Okay, so all league each
year I could have went to se U c l A,
but I I was gonna get red shirted because at
SC it was Dennis Smith.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Ronnie Lott, my cousin yep U c l A was.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Brian Baggett, a really good friend of mine, Bobby Joseah
who played corner, and Kenny easily played free safety.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I played free safety.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So jet Us was the defensive backfield coach at U
c l A and Uh, that recruitment didn't work out,
so I went to Northwestern. So when I got traded
to the Vikings, jet U's was our defensive backfield coach,
so I.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Got a chance to play. Yeah, it worked out, it
worked out.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
He and uh uh Frank Gilliam, Oh yeah, player personnel
director Joe Gilliam's brother, you know, really fought when they
were trying to fight for me. The first year my
roommate went to the Vikings, he got traded to Seattle
and then you know that whole thing and uh, just
just a wonderful experience. But it is hard, you know.
(17:05):
And I played under a but Grant, and but Grant
was yeah, baby hard.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Nos.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Great athletes on that squad.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
For a whiles were really good for a while.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, for a while, very good, very good coaching staff,
great players. Uh you know, played with model Shot and
Tommy Kramer. A really great place to be at that time,
and especially in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
You know, it was it was cool. The music was great,
you know, you know it was it was.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It was great. Uh, but.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I knew that, like, you know what, man, you're an
actor pretending to be an athlete. Oh interesting, Yeah, so
you know I'm just I'm just looking at these things,
and you know, watching people get hurt and with injuries
that probably they're not going to be able to do
(18:07):
much later on in their life.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Are you know?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I've seen it? We don't, We don't. I've seen face
masks hit.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Buddy of Minds got hit so hard on the crack
back that that they had to cut the face mask off,
excuse me, And it looked like he got shot in
his face. He's got this scar there, broke his cheekbone
and did a whole bunch of damage to his arbitue
circuit sucket And yeah, I remember Nate Balzer got his
(18:37):
foot twisted all the way around. I had a concussion
on the sideline and I'm watching this and I think
it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. But it wasn't
because his foot got turned all the way around and
they had the jam his foot into a bucket and
then air lift him out. And I'm on the sideline.
This is a Northwestern I'm like, yeah, I think it's
(18:57):
the funniest thing. But my mind was gone. And again,
having concussions and not having a protocol back in those
days and going home and being light sensitive and can't
eat that whole thing, and you know, the vertigo and
all that kind of stuff, and not going to the
doctor because we were taught ben but don't break.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Of course, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Ben, but don't break. So after my knee surgery, I
called the agent up. I'm like, hey, man, I'm out.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
What do you mean? You out?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like I'm out?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I'm an actor called my acting agent.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Hey, so when I give my leg out the castase,
don't worry.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I just started out in commercials and did a
ton of those and did extra work on a few
things because I wanted to learn the business.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
And my first film was Colors.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Hey stop there, wrote I said, home, yeah, man, not
Mayor Walker Brothers. Like I love the great great film
first of all, and people we know the song, of
course I see that. That's why that's quote. I love
the song. But the film is actually really good. I
saw it like about a year ago. I hadn't seen
it a long time, and I was like, oh, this
(20:15):
is pretty good. I forgot I saw it. I was like,
this is pretty good. Actually it's I mean, it gets
overshadow a little because of the song. It's a big right, right, right.
So it was about that time period. It was like
it was about the tensions and that just right right.
Very interesting fact about that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The night before I auditioned, I watched Blue Velvet.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Oh, David Lynch.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And David Lynch, but Dennis Hopper killed it.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I didn't know Dennis was directing. So I get over
to the studio. I'm sitting there and I look up
and he's walking through the door and he knobs, how
you doing it? Oh shit, I'm sorry, it's the well
dressed man right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
He labbed.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
But I was like, because his performance had just just
put this. It was just esched in my mind his performance,
you know. And so I go in and I read
and we have a little conversation. Then the next thing
I know, I'm at his house doing the big read
through with everyone. And it was my first film, Don
Cheto's first film, Glenn Plumber's first film. It was a
(21:23):
lot of first films for these guys. And I got
to say, everybody brought it. Everybody brought it in that film,
and everybody there, you know, has a career from that film.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Don Chico Folks was a dancer for Jodsy for a while,
I remember that in the videos that you don't understand either.
Dennis Hopper was also another kind of West Side l
A guy. I mean, he's a very much an l
A guy too. So yeah, we did it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
We did a read through at at his Venice property,
you know. So it's just, man, what a great film.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's great film. I saw the year ago and I
got to see it, so I didn't write, you were
in it's not gonna look at it. See, yeah, we're
in there. Yeah, but coach was good. Well, we asked
about you and I have somebody in common. Also, I
saw this another interview mentioned him and he went to
high school with me and then I basically a couple
of years younger than me, and I actually saw him
before he passed. That's John Singleton. Yes, so tell us
(22:22):
what your connection to John Singleton is. John.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Okay, it was always a running kind of thing. We
would always run into each other. But you know, I'm
the kind of guy I don't bird dog anybody about anything,
you know what I do. You know, I'm an actor,
but I'm not gonna bird dog.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But it was always cool to bump into him and
then talk about film.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You know, just film itself, how to shoot it, how
you know, how to ladies things out, how to get
the sun right if you're working with natural stuff, and
to do genius genius just just genius and just picking
up those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Now it's different because you know everyone's working on with
with within the digital age, which is fine.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I love it because I like to work fast.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I will.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I've told the director straight out, three takes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Okay, you're one take, Johnny.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Are those kind of like, oh yeah, I'm one of
those guys, you know, because no take is the same.
There is nothing more satisfying than to be going home
or going back to wherever you're staying. If you're on
location and go, man, you know you're really crazy. You
know you're really because you want to surprise yourself. And
you learn that by watching other great actors and watching
(23:34):
these things. And then I tell young actors all the time,
it's about behavior, behavior, behavior, behavior, It's all about that.
So you know, these conversations with John it would be
about you know, framing stuff up, this, that and the third,
and we will kind of get around to just behavior
as far as actors are concerned and where they're coming from.
Where they're going and how you build that character, you know,
(23:58):
and he definitely. I just saw an old interview with
AJ and she was talking about the scene where her
and Tyreese walk out and he's in the kitchen cooking
and he's you know, but that was John's idea, you know,
and then you know, then it was like, yeah, that's cool,
and that's what I do.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I always involved myself by knocking on.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That director's door or when I get to set, you know,
trying to get on set earlier and say this is
what I'm thinking. X y s scooby doope doop. Yeah,
you're right, okay, cool, because it'll make it go quicker.
And if I'm not hitting that behavioral beat, you can
remind me. I remember once on the Mexican I got
(24:41):
to work and Julia and I were getting on the
elevator at the same time. I always give everybody's space,
no matter if we cool, chummy, chummy, whatever, I'm going
to give you that space. And I kind of saw
on her face that she came to work ready. She
goes hey and go hey, and I'm like, okay, I
can feel this. So you know, she had her two
bodyguards and I kind of like melted in the back,
you know, into the elevator. And so when the door's open,
(25:05):
Gore was standing there. Gorfavinski was standing there and he said,
I got an idea. Remember when you said x y
Z scoob be doobe dooby doo. And she goes, yeah,
now she's fighting back those tears right then there, because
I gotta you know, we were all throwing her around.
Gambe Foenie threw around a pitt throw around. We were
all throwing and she was like, I got these bruises.
I'm cool. The more you give me, the less I
(25:26):
have to work.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
How old. That's a smart thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you know, when I have to slammer against that wall,
I'm slamming and I'm thinking to myself, oh Jesus, I
hope I didn't break the twenty million dollar woman.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
But she's in. She's in the next man. So uh,
there's actors out there that are like that.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So I just remembered when we were getting off that
elevator that Gore said that to her, and I'm like, Okay,
that's the key, man, that's the key, that's the key
to help you, you know, get that particular character. Off
the page. Yes, you know you have to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
But see, the director is so happy for you, the
producers are so happy because you're prepared. Yes, oh yeah,
you're showing that you care. Number two and whatever short
because things that could work, will save the money, save
the time, help the budgets. It's like so it's like
it's a it's a very pronged approach.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yes, yes, and you form these relationships. You form these
friendships that will last. We run into these people on
the streets, you know they're going to want to have
a conversation with you and and and find out what
how you doing, how your family's doing, and all that
because you have such a wonderful experience when you were
shooting that particular project.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And that's just been my mo from day one.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
There was nothing more satisfying than the short set and
crew members go, oh, we getting out of here, charms
here today, that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
And I'm like, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I don't care if there's a fight scene that we
you know, we're doing in bad lands and it took
eight days to shoot our ma Z for for a
Stranger Things. It doesn't matter what we're doing it's I'm
coming to work prepaired, and especially when you have these
three am pickup times and you know that kind of stuff,
like Okay, I'm gonna just go to work and do
what I need to do, get it done so we
(27:17):
can move on. We all have lives to do and
still not miss a beats, still be there, still bring
that character off the page, and you know, help other
actors and be helped. Yeah, and that's what it's all about.
It's just it's a job, man, it's a job.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And I tell you because I've done I've done a
few acting things. But yes are the stars Bye bye.
But you're right, people really do remember how you make
them feel and how you work. So I remember I
went on too a set and the whole cast was like,
oh we saw your name on the call sheet. Were
so excited. There's nothing better to hear that, right, So
you hear that, you're like, oh, James is coming, Oh
my god, we're gonna gets to be so funny, it'll
(27:58):
be so good, and that may be I'm in going,
Oh I gotta be really ready, And and we did.
We had a good time, and there was a show
cost to your city. You had good time. But I
like that whole thing that you said about. It's how
you make people feel. Yeah, do you show up on.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Time, You show up on time, show up on time.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know your lines, it's all. That's what counts, right,
And you can get hired over and over. Why do
some people work all the time? You know?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And I make sure that when I step on set,
I speak to everybody, everybody, no matter you know how
I how I'm feeling, or where I need to go emotionally,
I'm speaking to everybody. Yes, And then it's just over
over there, okay, so what are we doing? Okay, fine,
I'm not standing right here. Okay, cool. You know that
whole thing. And then we get into it. And again,
(28:49):
like I said, I will knock on every director's door
and and have these conversations with them. I have very
very very very very interesting conversation with Frank Dearbond. I'm
such a fan of his work, and I went to
I had a wardrobe call that day. Well it was
just a warde fitting, and so our first aid, her
(29:12):
name escapes me, but she was basically uh first aid
in his blocks specifically, and she goes, oh, Sherman, hey,
how you doing so we met. Sorry, I don't remember
your name, and she goes, Frank would love to meet you. Like, Frank,
I knew guest director. I'm like, okay, cool, all right, Frank.
(29:32):
So I'm walking and walking down the hallway and walk
past Seohn's Sean Leby's office and I look in you know,
Sean's out there here shooting something. And I walked to
Frank's doing it, said Frank carebah, And I'm like, oh man,
I just started melting in me and Frank just hit
it off right off, right off the top. And you
know we had that that section to where we had
two strikes, right, a strike and the actor strike.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Oh yeah, I was. I was there for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
So I had this opportunity now to I was using
that to rewire exactly where.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Jack Sullivan was coming from.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, is he's not that Jack Sullivan we saw
a couple of months ago.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Uh, in the time of the show.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You know, there's something different now, I see what's going
on this that and the third and so we chit
chatted about a lot of stuff, and I brought up
a lot of ideas and because I spoke to a
lot of military ex military and active military colonels. I
always do my research, and knowing that they were bringing
in Linda Hamilton, I knew we were going to you know,
(30:31):
but I'm like, you know what my concern isn't even
with her. She can come in, she can do what
she wants to do. My concern is finding out what's
happening in Hawkins. Bad guys, beware if you're the bad
guys loving if okay, I will, you know, let's find
out if you're good at bad. But now I have
this responsibility of this whole town, and you know, I
have these men in this company and all these these
(30:53):
these expensive things that the government has you know, given me.
And so I spoke to one retired lieutenant colonel who said, yeah,
anytime I have a beef for someone or we have
this thing where it's this who's got the authority, there's
a salute that you can give them. And you know,
it's kind of like an fu salute where you know,
(31:14):
you do your salute and you pivot, you turn, and
you slap your hass.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That means, you know, just my ass.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So Frank was like, you know, Frank's the military dude.
He's like, oh my god. Yeah, yeah, But I did it.
I did it a different way. It's in the hallway
with me, Manny and and and Linda, and we're doing
this whole thing, and I just I gave it a
sloop and but just I gave her half of it.
But there's something coming up in the next half that
I went to set and I was speaking with Frank
(31:42):
and he totally blew me out the water. He said,
you're right about all those things. But he but he's
also having a come to.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Jesus moment and I'm like, okay, like that.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So that's what I mean about the collaboration, because that's
what it is. It's collaboration, and so I take that
into each and everything I do.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, you know, but you guys are I mean this,
I mean this cast. You watch the kids grow up
with the grown Yeah, yeah, you guys are. Guys are
like a like a family of some sorts. You guys
have you guys are part So you again, rarefy, they
are again. You're of a show that's a cultural hit.
It's a it's a hit. It's on streaming folks, which
(32:23):
is like down network. But yeah, it seems so huge. Yeah,
we've been all waiting for season five and finally we've
been waiting for. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Man, they haven't even started. I mean, they're gonna throttle up.
It's just it's it hasn't even started good yet. One
thing I noticed, I really liked watching uh Wanona and
uh Finn and Noah take the little kids and take
them under their wing. And you know, it's kind of
cool to see that generation taking this new generation under
(32:55):
their wing and just giving them the knowledge and the
information about just being in this business and knowing that
their characters and knowing what's going on with this show.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And they were all so well, just really well groomed actors,
and it was fun to watch. It was really fun
to watch, and those kids have no egos, and it
was just really cool feeding off their energy because they
had that energy because we're going to shoot them out first.
Because we're shooting at night, they had to be gone
by eleven o'clock, by eleven pm, so you know, their
(33:30):
energy was great, so it helped us with our energy
for the rest of the night, the rest of.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
The morning, I know, basically morning whatever it is. Oh yeah,
oh yeah, oh yeah. I want to ask you this
question because it's I have to ask this question. Yeah,
is Lieutenant Colonel Jack in relation to you? Is he
a brother friend alter ego? What he was?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Definitely he's he's definitely an ulter ego. You know, there's
there's oments because it was That's the reason why I
was saying. For me, there's always got to be a
connection to where I can find a balance between behavior
(34:15):
that's not real and behavior that's real. So the first
thing I do all the time is I let that
character evaluate me. So I will walk around and I
will let him ask me whatever you've been through in
your life? To get me off the page, man, and
then we start arguing, we start going at it, and
then he'll say, Okay, on that line of X y Z,
since you know how that feels, that's what you need
(34:38):
to use. Okay, you never you know, pull it out
a gun to shot meybody, but you know how it
feels to want to So why are you tripping? You
know you know how it feels to drive the car
like this, So why are you tripping? That's what I
need when you say that line, and then it becomes
easier and easier, and then before you know it, it's
just the behavior. Because everything we accumulate as actors, every
(34:59):
technique that we want there gets to a point. For
me personally, it goes out the window. It becomes instinct.
As long as I had that let that character meet
with me and chit chat with me. Yeah, it's it's, it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I'll tell you a quick story with quitting where we're
shooting lanterns and and for some reason, every time I
went to set, I was wondering why I was feeling
a certain kind of way, and it's making me make
me cry right now thinking about it. I was feeling
the kind of way because they built a nineteen twenty
(35:37):
nineteen nineteen craftsmen style home that looks just like mine
that I grew up in. So you know where I'm
going with this. So production is set design.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They must smuck in my house.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
The wallpaper in the hallway, the bedrooms, the hardwood floor,
everything in side and outside was just detailed as a
beautiful craftsman home. So we're shooting the scene, the last scene,
and I'm in the kitchen. I'm asking myself before we
start rolling, and I'm asking myself, why do you feel
(36:16):
this way, don't block it. And I looked down and
I'm looking at the tile and everything. And I walked
into the breakfast room and I'm like, it's just like
my house. And the scene is I'm not gonna give
away the scene, but Aaron's coming in and we had
this thing and Alec said action and I didn't let
it go. The most powerful thing is to just keep
(36:37):
the tears in your eyes. And he wanted this to
add lit this whole thing at the end, and so
it was just so easy to do. And I remember
I walked in. We had rehearsed it, we had a
shot of take, which was great, and we're on the
second take and I'm like, okay, I need this, let's
(36:57):
get this done. And I but that's in my eyes
and I'm feeling this whole thing and it was the house. Man.
I didn't have to reach for nothing. I didn't have
to go back and start thinking about anything. It was
the environment. And so those are the moments where you
feel as a performer, as an actor, you have arrived
where you don't have to go reach for something, where
everybody has to be quiet. Actors try to good the
(37:20):
actors over here. You know, no, No, the actor saw
something that made that actor do that, and it took
me back to when Julia walked on. We walked into
the hotel, we got on the elevator, and then I
understood where she was coming from. I understood. I don't
know how many years ago that was, but you know,
(37:42):
these things accumulate and you get to a point where
when you want to have accessibility to these feelings and
these emotions, it's right there. It's not buried underneath the surface.
It's just skin, very skin.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Deep of that. One of the things that you you've
done different projects from my soap opera fans, Yeah, I
gotta know. He did a stint at Detective Where Were
Young a couple of years ago on Young and the Restless. Yes,
one of the things I want to ask you because
Young Restless is such a beloved shop from the black community.
(38:20):
Our Auntieasing everybody knows that. Dy knows. Richard Newman, that's yeah, yeah,
my buddy, my buddy braid.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah yeah, Eric Braiden and and and I just ran
into Peterburg at Bergman.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Oh yeah, over at the Grove the other day, you know,
like Peter's like god, yeah, because I noticed I follow
you my friend Michelle Stafford to plays well Michelle.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But see that's how it happened. We were in class together.
Michelle goes, hey, Shark. She had a party and she
goes shar so they're casting this character. I'm like, Hi,
look Michelle, I'll give you my reel and you can
give it to the folks. She said, okay, cool. So
got the call. So I ended up doing the show
and I did the show for four years consistent, but
(38:59):
I was able to do other things. I was offered
a contract, but I just wanted to make sure. I
just wanted to keep going. You know, I love independent films.
I love uh and that's where I made my bones
at you know, you know independent films because I just
love the spirit of it it creatively, it's it's a
(39:21):
place where you can live and uh just come up
with these great ideas. You have people who are on
the rise, uh, and it just everybody's out to just
do it, especially if the budgets tight. I just love that, uh.
And I was, man, I love that show. It it
was And trust me, soap operas are hard.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I know to tell people, it's not easy, right.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Soap operas are hard, especially if you're a trained actor.
And again you're searching for the right behavior. And it's
no joke. I've seen actors have meltdowns on set, you know,
coming from film. In regular television, you know, an insert
is Sherman opens the door, walks in, you.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Know, no dialogue.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
And I remember.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I got an email saying, excuse me, we're gonna shoot
some inserts for show X y Z tomorrow. Okay, cool.
I go to work. I already had ten pages. I
get to work and they handed me twenty pages.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Of course, that's right.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, who did not facts
this or email this to me? Who's responsible? Oh? I
see what you're trying to do. You want to see
Sherman that meltdown? Oh no, no, this is what Sherm
gets real cool. This is what terms sharm dog.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
So what do you do?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Because I've seen this happen before. I'm there at six
in the morning, I go to everybody and I say, hey, listen,
I don't know who's involved and who was supposed to
do this, but I was supposed to get this twenty
these twenty pages earlier. But it's okay, right, And he
just thought I was gonna come in here. Aye. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
I tell you what, if you will allow me to
do this right after lunch, I'll be ready.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
And guess what I went and did that, did lunch
and knocked it out the box and did it like
I was doing a film, not a soap opera.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
And I'm going to tell you where I learned that from.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
So I'm working with the great Cecily Tyson.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Oh okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
So I'm shooting Touched by the Angel. I get off
the plane and I see Cisly walking through and I'm like,
oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no one
told me this. No one told me. They didn't tell
me Sisly was playing my mother. What. So now I'm like,
I'm not sleeping. I'm like, you know, I'm sweaty, all
under the arms, you know, I'm just like, you know, wow, Okay.
(41:50):
It was myself and Janelle Kennedy and we shot a
couple of stuff and we're working with Tim Van Patten.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Oh yeah, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
We shot the scene and so we're moving so fast
and Tim goes, you know, we'll shoot the stuff that
we're going to do tomorrow. We'll shoot it today, and she
did not. They were rewriting her stuff and so she
didn't have it. So she goes, okay, well I don't
have those pages. So now me and Janelle were like,
you know, you don't mess with you don't mess with
our lady, like you don't mess with our quing like that.
(42:22):
So she goes, no, no, no, no, no no, I
got this. Give me a couple of minutes, give me,
give me an hour, and I'll have it done, all right.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
So we went on there and shot some other stuff.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
She came back twenty five minutes later and we were
going to break for lunch. She came back twenty five
minutes later with the most beautiful cursive handwriting I've ever
seen in my life. She wrote down three pages. She
wrote it down, memorized it, came in, knocked it out
the box. Janelle Kennedy and I looked at each other
(42:56):
and we really questioned ourselves, and Janelle said, and we
want to be actors, how do you do that?
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Seriously?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
We were like dumbfound it, you know, we were like,
how do you do this? How do you do this? So,
going back to young and restless, I remember that lesson.
I just give me some time. I'm a professional actor.
I'm not gonna waste anybody's time. You won't have to
worry about the que cars and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
I got you. They came back and did it.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
So I was like, yeah, now look at everybody say,
seem seems solid bean baby, that's what you know.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
The thing is, you know, I think when what you do.
I've done a lot of live television where you have
to on the fly. I mean what we do. We again,
we are the product. We are the conduit between the
fans and the people who work behind the scenes. Right,
So we have a job to do. You have a job,
(43:51):
job do. I think what makes me why I'm now
you're a new fan is that you have a similar
thought like I do. It's like, I have a job
to do. I can do it. Yeah, here's some of
the parameters. But I'll get it together because I have
a job to do. This is what job? Yeah yeah,
but I said, but everybody has that mindset. You have
(44:14):
the mic downs that go crazy and how you dare
you do this to me? And why is this happening
to me? Like the whole night? But you're like me,
where we going? No, no, no, this isn't happening to me.
This is happening, and so now what am I going
to do about it? Right?
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Right?
Speaker 1 (44:28):
It's not a person, you know.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
It goes back even to football.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
You know, you study, you study what your opponent's going
to do, and they might line up that way, but
they may not run that play.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
So you have to be quick on the flo.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
If I'm secondary filmman or primary filmman, if it's running
the tackle we're studying up front, I got to do that.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
If I read run, whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
The case may be, it's the same thing, right, And
this is the reason why I tell young actors if
you can't well stay in a class, and don't stay
in one class for more than two years, go somewhere else,
because again reiterating, you're going to start using that technique
that is just personal to you and you're going to
be pulling that up. There's not much theater here, but
(45:14):
I advise them to get in an improv group.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
I did improv theater for five years, So that's where
all that comes from. It comes from you, you know,
so you can let this these things fly from your
cerebral cortex. There is no stopping anything. It's always yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
You know your uncle's are flying dunkey, Yes he is,
and he works for American Airlines, you know, and you
keep it going, you keep there's no no. So it's
the same thing you know when you're when you're across
from Oliver Platte and you know that he's going.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
To go off book of course, of course, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
It's just he almost got me one time, and we
were shooting we were shooting this uh, shooting this David S.
Gloria film Zigzag, based off of a real story out
of this young kid who had artism down in San Diego.
And we're shooting that film and I come in and
I questioned him about there's a theft and his restaurant,
(46:19):
and I catch him him and Natasha and the leone
having this conversation, and so I walk in and conduct
some more interviews, and so the line is, so who
was that? His line back to me was, h, he's
my sister's cousin's little brother's niece.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
Yes, Detective, I'm married and I'm her right, alrighty, you
know any other questions Sherlock's homie.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Oh that's that's good. Right. So you're standing there going, okay,
got it?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
So I guess David played us both because David had
him do that, and David told me slam him against
the wall. So now I don't hit, you know, because
I'm almost I'm almost gonna break because I love that man.
That man as funny as all get out, and he's
fast and he's quick.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
I grabbed him by the collar and threw him against
the wall and I said listen to me. I said,
listen to me, mister right, And so I have to
say my stuff and mister m effort wasn't in there,
but you know, okay, it just it just it just
came out right. And then when he y'all cut, we
all just fell out. I think we laughed for like
(47:35):
forty five minutes. It was just so freaking funny because
Oliver was like that. And the same with with with
Nick Frost. You can't you can't play around with Nick Frost.
Nick Frost will burn you. Nick Frost will burn you.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
And you gotta be in.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
You got to be in the moment because he would
do something and you don't want to break It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
I love actors like that.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
I could talk to you forever, man, I got an
interview to do after this, I'm like, no, I don't
want to I want to talk to you for like
two three hours. Man. We have to do it again, definitely,
we have to do it again any any anytime. Welcome back.
Thank you. It was a pleasure connecting with you on
Extra Connections, folks. He's in a New Stranger Things so
(48:21):
and it's two parts, folks. So there's a part now,
three episodes and the three coming out at Christmas. So
I'll put it in the description of fluks and just
some guys are like, I can't remember. I know, it's confusing.
It's yeah, yeah, yeah, it's what it is. You know.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
It's thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I
really do.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
It was painless, man, it was painless. Okay, So Sherman
tell them what. They can follow you on social media
if they want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Follow me on Instagram at shurm gus and also Facebook
and I'm on thread.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
You know, you can do following.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
I'm around around Hi. He's for hire too. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
York stage, folks, He'll fly New York on what you
want to say? You hook about there, right, I'm proud
to New York. He's an actor. He's an actor.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
Yes, that's what I am.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yes, Yes, and I'm James Adrian. Follow me where all
James are and James Jr. I'm everywhere also TikTok everything.
I'm all over the place. But it's super simple for
you guys. Extra connections on Facebook, but you follow us
there to you and just again, as I always end
these kind of shows, I always I'm very happy because
the world's about connection. We we've lost a bit of
(49:30):
that during the pandemic and other things. I'm trying to
bring that back. The show is nine years old, and
I'm so glad, thank you. I'm so proud to still
be doing this and I'm proud to be here too,
and I'm probably be.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
Yeah, and you know for me, folks like you, it
just makes everything just so worthwhile. Man, So thank you
so much, because I love sitting down and having a conversation.
This wasn't an interview, it was a conversation than thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Yeah. Yeah, the folks support it. Go watch Stranger Things,
see all right,
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.